Joss Whedon confirms that Hank Pym will not be in The Avengers: Age of Ultron

Joss Whedon revealed more details about The Avengers: Age of Ultron in yet another interview, confirming that Hank Pym (a.k.a. Ant-Man), who created Ultron, and Vision, the android created by Ultron, will not be featured in this follow-up. Here's what the director had to say, reiterating that the villain will have a whole new origin story than the one shown in the comic books.

"It's not based on the series. Honestly, we went through a lot of titles - Underoos Of Ultron. None of them landed. Underoos would've been better because of the alliteration. But Age of Ultron really stuck. We were like, 'It's a book, but we're still going to use it.' We're not going to see Pym and all the accoutrements. Ultron is more central to the Avengers as they are. But we will explore the idea of lineage, because he was created by us and we've got to own that... Then we have the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver and I think that's plenty, because Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch did not begin their time as friends of the Avengers, so there's going to be a lot of, well, conflict."

When the director says "us," when speaking of who created Ultron, it's possible he may be confirming a casting call from earlier this week, which revealed that Tony Stark brought Ultron to life. However, the "us" could imply that other Avengers and/or S.H.I.E.L.D. may have a hand in the creation of this super villain.

Since the rights to both Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are retained by both Marvel Studios and Fox, some fans wondered about a possible crossover between the X-Men universe and this franchise, although the director shot down those rumors.

"That's not the plan. It would be cool but I think right now I already have a ton of very talented actors in my movie playing a ton of characters, and I'm about to add a few more. So I'm not like, 'How can we get more licensed characters because I want to kill myself and make a nine-hour movie.'"

He also spoke about Thanos, who is popping up next in the Marvel Phase Two ensemble Guardians of the Galaxy, although he won't be the primary villain.

"We have to stay grounded. It's part of what makes the Marvel universe click - their relationship to the real world. It's science-fiction, and Thanos is not out of the mix, but Thanos was never meant to be the next villain. He's always been the overlord of villainy & darkness."

@brady1138 what I have a problem with is Joss calling them superheroes when they are not. I'm considering this as a cross-over even if he claims its not.

My rant below is how people know very little about superheros. Mutants are not superheros since they are born with the abilities and characters like Spiderman are superheroes.

Then there's the confusion with Catwoman, she's a thief, plain and simple and cares only about her self. She's an anti-hero just like Venom. Most comic book readers know the difference but people like Joss need to realize not to screw with any characters. I'm getting sick and tired of these marvel films, spiderman is all wrong, F4 is going to be all wrong, wants next DD being African American. Blade causation, King Pin Asian. I think I'll give up on marvel and stay away from it as long as possible. DC films may not be the greatest, but at least they are a lot more enjoyable to watch.

Man, I'd hate to be Joss Whedon. He makes one of the (if not THE) greatest superhero movies in movie history that finally fully captures the spirit and feel of a 50-year-old comic book universe and yet that STILL isn't enough goodwill to keep the fanboys flaming when he changes one thing. When will you people understand the movie and comic book universes are totally separate from one another? When will you realize that word-for-word translations are simply uninteresting and bland? Look, I'm a huge fan of Marvel comics, but if they change something, I think of it as a unique story opportunity that the comics haven't done. It makes things engaging and unpredictable even to a veteran like myself. With friends like the fans, Whedon needs no enemies.

Ant Man is being directed by Edgar Wright, so its tone is going to be pretty significantly different from The Avengers. It just wouldn't fit to have him play such a crucial role in that film and then go off on a solo story that feels like a bizzaro Edgar Wright flick. Let's get Ant Man, and establish him on his own, and then see how he can fit into the Avengers later on.

I just don't get why they couldnt just make the Ant-man movie sooner..I mean jesus IM3 sucked...the premise sucked..replace that with Ant-Man or even GOTG...Why do we need a GOTG movie if Thanos wont be seen in 4 years? and will be unrelated to AV2..Does that make any sense?

@rjh094 You wanna know why Ant-Man isn't in this movie? Because Tony Stark wouldn't have as big of a role in the movie if Ant had been in it, and that is all that Marvel and Whedon care about: Money. That is all. It always is. But the fact that they are willing to change so f*cking much to achieve it is what's pissing me off. RDJ brings in all of the money, we all know that. That is why they rely it all on RDJ instead of Ant-Man.

Oh so you figured, not only will you change the characters origins, but you'll take the title of a beloved book and change the whole premiss? How about you go f*ck yourself you self-important prick? This guy is seriously starting to annoy me. He's not the f*cking GOD that he thinks he is. HE didn't make the Avengers good, the cast did, let's be honest.

Way to go Joss, now screwing around with Ultron and missing out key figures. Both these characters are mutants and not superheroes.

Every single mutant isn't a superhero, they are born with abilities. A superhero is a human that under goes, failed tests, bitten by spiders, accidentally shrink them selves.... And want to help those in need. It's amazing how many people know very little about superheros. I've read posts that claim Catwoman is a superhero and when she's not. She's a thief and cares very little what happens to others. I get upset with directors when they pull something like this, right now I'm considering this film a cross-over film even if Joss says it's not.

@bawnian-dexeus it would be cool to see the Wolverine/Spidey dynamic. The episode from Ultimate Spiderman where their bodies are switched is hilarious.

But your definitely right. If they put every character that everyone wants in an Avengers movie, they'd barely have decent screen time. I'd love to see Spiderman, Daredevil, Nova, etc in The Avengers, but I'd rather see good standalone movies than see a huge mess

I still laugh at people thinking Fox, Sony and Marvel will pull their money together to bring everyone in. It will never happen. So far, the characters have been doing relatively fine in their own universes. I'm one of the few who believes that while Wolverine and Spiderman are currently members of the Avengers in the comic books, they do not HAVE to be part of Avengers in the movies nor do I believe they are needed. But hey, that's how I see it based on everything I've seen done with the characters and the growing list of B characters soon to be portrayed. You can call poppyc*ck later

Okay guys, as I said, to each their own and these are all just our own individual opinions. The fact remains that Bryan Singer IS hailed by 20th Century FOX and most of the fans of the movies as the franchise's best director. That's all I was iterating. But if y'all want to play war of your opinions, go right ahead. That fact still remains regardless of anyone's opinions on it.

@comicbookfan Okay just putting it out there... The first two X-men movies were awful.. X-men 3 is worse, and X-man first class is passable at best. Always X-men origins wolverine is the worst of of all the X-men movies so far.. Have not seen The new Wolverine movie yet.

@andrewchiba i actually agree with you. I'm not a fan of the X-Men franchise or Singer's direction for it. I wanted the movies to be far more than they turned out to be. Albeit @comicbookfan is correct in the fact that Singer is hailed by hordes of fans but I believe it is the fact that before him no one could imagine the characters come to life. I think the idea of that alone has been blinding to the actual content until the series carried on.

@andrewchiba BrYan Singer is hailed by most of the fans as the perfect X-Men director, single-handedly creating a realistic universe for these colorful characters. Sorry, bub, but yours is an opinion that very little fans of the movies share with you. You are in the minority there. Singer is coming back to undo FOX's contradictory mistakes, in which there are many after X2.

Which is also why FOX grabbed him to be Producer on Vaughn's "X-Men: First Class," with the presumption that he would do the next film following. You may be the only one not hyped for "X-Men: Days of Future Past" my friend.

@comicbookfan, Brian Singer created a mess with his first X-men movie. Hopefully after his next fail with Days of Future Past, the studio will scrap the X-men Franchise and reboot it the correct way! And we can see Whedon take the lead with the universe he is creating! #wishful thinking

Good. The X-Men franchise needs to stay where it is. Bryan Singer created a mess when he left the franchise but he sat back and played Producer for First Class, and now he's back at the helm to fix his mess, knowing full well Fox didn't understand what they were doing after he left. They got a doozy and are currently trying to fix it, no need to further escalate problems tying them to other franchises. Get your house in order before going outside to play. The Sony Spider-Man franchise also needs to stay where it's at, as well as they are also looking to create their own cinematic universe. Spider-Man and X-Men have become more interesting as far as what's on the horizon than the MCU, IMHO.

Its a no brainer,that joss whedon has already done with the story line, but since its not planned for phase 2, but a possibility that he might (with the agreement being ever made by Disney and Fox and Sony) that we might get a crossover with the Marvel cinematic universe with that of the X-men and Fantastic 4 together, and not to mention them at the marvel producers and Hugh Jackman wanted a crossover even Joss Whedon thought it'll, be cool. And not to mentioned that Thanos will be in the Avengers 3, as Apocalypse will appear the next X-men film after Days of Future Past. And if an agreement was accomplished by the two studios, then we might see a crossover and even see Apocalypse and Thanos as a Doomsday duo, against...well, earth and humanity. But I do know this it'll be expensive and might pull of a harry potter.